A two-day workshop on the Fifth Chief Secretary Conference and State Indicators for Education is underway at the Capital Convention Centre, Kohima.
KOHIMA — A two-day workshop for district officials and District Institute of Education and Training (DIETs) on the Fifth Chief Secretary (CS) Conference and State Indicators for Education is underway at the Capital Convention Centre, Kohima.
Addressing the inaugural programme, Commissioner & Secretary of School Education and SCERT Nagaland, Kevileno Angami, on Thursday emphasised the importance of proactive participation and feedback.
She appreciated and acknowledged Samagra Shiksha for organising the two-day workshop for district officials and DIETs to discuss issues for the 5th Chief Secretary's Conference and the State Indicators. She also stressed the importance of Viksit Bharat to ensure a Developed Nagaland.
Emphasising that that human capital, driven by education, is crucial for Nagaland's development, Kevileno also stressed that quality education is the foundation for building human capital, and that education managers, teachers, and policymakers play a vital role in this process.
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She called upon the participants to introspect and see whether they are delivering as expected and ponder whether they are nurturing the future of the state.
She added that everyone has a very important role to play, asserting that none should underestimate themselves, as they have been placed in their positions for a purpose.
The official encouraged the participants to actively engage in the workshop, providing valuable feedback that will inform state-specific recommendations to be submitted to the Central Ministry.
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State Mission Director of Samagra Shiksha, L Jamithung Lotha, set the context of the workshop and underlined the importance of Viksit Bharat while laying emphasis on education.
He underscored the need to reduce school dropout rates in the state, educate children to be job-ready in line with the new education policy by skilling the youth, and called upon the Nagas to rethink.
The Mission Director noted that the Education department is the largest employer in the state, with over 20,000 employees, accounting for more than 26% of the state's salary expenditure.
He stressed performance-based incentives and disincentives, and highlighted the need to improve perceptions of government schools. Notably, while government schools excel in Higher Secondary exams, they lag behind private schools in high school results.
Pointing to the Performance Grading Index (PGI), Parakh Rashtriya Sarvekshan State Report, and the National Assessment Survey (NAS), he said there has been some improvement in the state, though there are still areas that need attention.
Jamithung also advised education officers to maintain links with schools and work efficiently to do justice to their roles. He further emphasised the need to engage more in community participation, which should be reflected on the national forum.
Principal Director of School Education, Shashank Pratap Singh, asserted the need to improve performance on the Teachers Attendance Monitoring System (TAMS), pointing to recently released data wherein many establishments, offices, and schools were poorly marked.
He also urged officers posted in districts to make their presence felt and stressed the importance of following proper channels in addressing issues, as well as maintaining cordial relations with the district administration and line departments.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Mission Director (DMD) of Samagra Shiksha, Kelhikha Kenye, highlighted that the 5th Chief Secretary Conference is themed ‘Human capital for Viksit Bharat,’ wherein school education is one of the five main pillars—schooling: building blocks.
He maintained that school education is interrelated with all departments and pillars, and feedback notes on ‘Schooling: Building blocks’ from officials of the School Education department and line departments—including DIET, SCERT, NBSE, DoSE, DEO, SDEO down to school principals and headmasters—must be compiled.
He said the feedback is important, as the inputs and suggestions will matter in shaping future policy framing and called for proactive participation to address the problems faced in the education sector to improve school education.
Various topics—Parakh RS-Nagaland Report, PGI-Nagaland Report, Vidyanjali, Digital Assessment for FS, Information on OoSC, CWSN, VE, and UDISE+—will be discussed during the workshop, which will culminate on Friday.